EDUCATION  DEPT. 


M,w -'BRARY  OF  EDUCATION 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
BERKELEY.  CALIfOHNJA 


UNIVERSITY   OF    CALIFORNIA 

DEPARTMENT  OF  EDUCATION 


MEASURING  CLASSROOM  PRODUCTS 
IN  BERKELEY 

Study  Number  1 
of  the  Bureau  of  Research  in  Education 

In  two  Sections— Section  I 


DECEMBER   1,   1920 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  PRESS 
BERKELEY 

PRICE  25  CENTS 


EDUCATION  DEPT. 


UNIVERSITY   OF    CALIFORNIA 

DEPARTMENT  OF  EDUCATION 


MEASURING  CLASSROOM  PRODUCTS 
IN  BERKELEY 

Study  Number  1 
of  the  Bureau  of  Research  in  Education 

In  two  Sections— Section  I 


DECEMBER   1,   1920 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  PRESS 
BERKELEY 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Foreword  and  Introduction  by  Superintendent  Wilson 5 

Request  for  the  Survey 5 

Letter  of  Transmittal. 7 

Section  I 

Chapter  1. — Report  of  the  Seminar  Committee  on  Writing 10 

Directions  for  Giving  the  Handwriting  Tests 10 

Oral  Instructions  Concerning 11 

Scoring  the  Papers  11 

Uniformity  of  Judgments  as  to  Quality 12 

Tabulation  of  Results 13 

Interpretation  of  Data 17 

Comparison  of  Schools 23 

Bibliography 33 

Chapter  2. — Report  of  the  Seminar  Committee  on  Spelling 34 

Material  for  the  Test  and  Plan  of  Giving 34 

Instructions  for  Giving 34 

Oral  Instructions : 35 

Tabulation  of  Results 35 

Factors  to  be  Considered  in  Interpretation  of  Results 37 

Interpretation  of  Results 40 

Recommendations  for  Teaching  Spelling 42 


FOREWORD  AND  INTRODUCTION 

Any  program  of  administration  or  management  which  is  concerned 
with  securing  efficient  results  with  justifiable  economy  must  be  based 
upon  reliable  facts.  This  is  quite  as  true  in  the  fields  of  finance  and 
industry  as  in  educational  institutions.  Every  up  to  date,  progressive 
business  institution  has  its  Department  of  Efficiency,  to  which  it  looks 
for  scientific  evaluation  of  its  efforts.  Upon  the  basis  of  these  findings 
it  modifies  its  programs  of  operation  and  procedure  from  time  to  time. 

Realizing  the  need  of  definite  information  as  to  what  was  being  ac- 
complished in  the  public  schools  of  Berkeley,  and  being  without  a 
Department  of  Research  at  that  time,  I  sought  the  cooperation  of  the 
Department  of  Education  at  the  University  of  California.  I  found 
Dean  Alexis  F.  Lange  and  his  associates  in  the  department  immediately 
interested  to  render  service  and  to  avail  themselves  of  the  laboratory 
opportunity  thus  provided.  Accordingly,  following  two  or  three  con- 
ferences, I  was  able  to  report  to  the  Board  of  Education  at  the  regular 
meeting  of  October  1,  1918,  that  tentative  arrangements  had  been  made 
with  the  faculty  of  the  Education  Department  of  the  University  of 
California  for  the  direction  by  Dr.  Cyrus  D.  Mead,  Associate  Professor 
of  Elementary  Education,  of  available  graduate  students  in  such 
research  work  in  the  public  schools  of  Berkeley  as  would  enable  the 
determination  of  the  results  which  were  being  secured  in  the  public 
schools  in  the  various  grades  and  in  the  various  subjects  which  might  be 
investigated.  The  board  readily  approved  the  arrangements  made  by 
the  superintendent,  and  empowered  him  to  act  fully  in  the  matter  and 
to  print  the  results  of  the  study  for  distribution  when  they  were  com- 
pleted. 

The  results  of  this  cooperative  arrangement  have  been  very  satis- 
factory, indeed,  as  the  published  results  in  the  following  pages  show. 
Scientific  studies  were  conducted  to  determine  the  results  which  were 
being  secured  in  Writing,  Spelling.  Reading,  the  Fundamentals  of 
Arithmetic,  and  Reasoning  Ability  in  Arithmetic.  Before  the  second 
section  is  ready  for  publication,  it  is  hoped  that  it  may  be  possible  to 
add  an  appendix  dealing  briefly  with  the  results  which  are  being  secured 
in  Composition  and  Geography. 

The  value  to  a  school  system  of  such  an  investigation  as  this  is 
perhaps  three-fold.  It  is  an  immediate  help  to  the  teacher  in  diagnomig 
the  difficulties  and  problems  which  are  confronting  her  and  in  enabling 


K't  lli  .  6 

her  to  find  ways  and  means  of  solving  the  same.  Second,  it  provides 
certain  valuable  training  facilities  for  these  teachers  who  wish  to  famil- 
iarize themselves  with  the  technique  of  scientific  investigation.  Third, 
it  provides  accurate,  reliable  data  gathered  by  scientific  methods  for 
the  use  of  the  administrative  and  supervisor  force  in  enabling  them  to 
study  conditions  throughout  the  system  and  to  make  comparisons  with 
other  systems.  It  constitutes  the  necessary  basis  for  readjusting  the 
emphasis  that  should  be  given  to  different  topics  and  subjects,  and  for 
modifying  and  improving  the  teaching  technique  in  the  interest  of  better 
results. 

For  the  service  rendered  the  public  schools  through  this  cooperative 
effort,  we  are  genuinely  thankful  to  the  Department  of  Education  of 
the  University  of  California.  It  is  believed  that  the  publication  of 
these  results  is  desirable  not  only  because  of  their  value  to  the  public 
schools  of  Berkeley,  but  because  the  methods  used  and  the  results  in- 
dicated will  be  of  interest  and  service  to  others. 

H.  B.  WILSON, 

Superintendent  of  Schools, 

Berkeley,  California. 


DEPARTMENT  OF  EDUCATION 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

BERKELEY,  CALIFORNIA 

LETTER  OF  TRANSMITTAL 

DR.  H.  B.  WILSON, 

Superintendent  of  Schools,  Ma    28 

Berkeley,  California. 

My  Dear  Dr.  Wilson: 

In  pursuance  with  your  request  in  September  1918,  the  members  of 
my  Seminar  in  The  Measurement  of  Elementary  School  Work  under- 
took as  a  project  a  survey  of  the  Berkeley  Schools,  such  survey  on  their 
part  to  include  the  application  of  standard  tests  to  the  subject  matter 
of  the  elementary  field.  The  class  of  men  and  women  in  Education 
gladly  accepted  this  work  with  the  resolution  that  the  teachers  of  the 
system  as  a  whole  should  become  an  integral  part  and  assist  in  such 
survey  and  that,  whatever  the  findings,  there  should  be  included  in  the 
report  constructive  helps  and  suggestions  for  the  further  improvement 
of  teaching  in  our  city  schools.  We  were  extremely  fortunate  in  having, 
as  well  as  graduate  students  in  Education,  a  number  of  your  progressive 
principals  and  teachers.  It  has  given  me  much  pleasure,  with  no  little 
pride,  to  watch  the  growing  interest  and  enthusiasm  of  this  seminar 
group.  They  have  applied  themselves  to  the  work  with  a  zeal  and  pro- 
fessional spirit  which  I  wish  to  commend  to  you.  The  extension  of  the 
class  period  from  two  to  three  hours  weekly  was  but  a  trifle  to  the  ad- 
ditional hours  of  work  put  in  throughout  the  school  year.  They  have 
done  a  most  careful  and  thorough  piece  of  work. 

It  was  decided  to  measure  the  school  products  from  the  second  or 
third  grades  to  the  eighth  or  ninth  inclusive  in  handwriting,  spelling, 
reading,  the  fundamentals  of  arithmetic  and  arithmetical  reasoning.1 
The  following  standard  tests  were  applied  or  made  use  of: 

Handwriting — AYRES:  Gettysburg  Scale. 
Spelling        — AYRES  :  Measuring  Scale  for  Ability  in  Spelling. 
Reading        — MONROE:  Standardized  Silent  Reading  Tests. 
Arithmetic    — COURTIS:  Series  B  Standard  Research  Tests  (Fundamentals). 
STARCH:  Arithmetical  Scale  A  (Reasoning). 


1  The  studies  in  English  Composition  and  Geography,  which  are  to  appear  in  the 
Appendix  of  Section  II  of  the  report  were  made  by  the  1920-21  Educational  Measure- 
ments Seminar. 


8 

The  method  of  procedure  was  to  study  the  scales  and  tests,  their 
derivation,  use  and  applications  that  had  been  made.  Accompanying 
this  the  technique  of  the  statistical  method  was  studied  and  practiced. 
A  preliminary  meeting  was  held  the  week  or  two  preceding  the  giving 
of  each  "test  in  which  the  plan  was  outlined  and  the  directions  carefully 
formulated.  These  directions  were  mimeographed  by  your  office  force 
and  mailed  to  each  principal  and  teacher.  Within  the  day  or  two  fol- 
lowing, each  seminar  student  appeared  at  his  group  of  schools,  usually 
two,  in  order  to  meet  the  teachers  in  group  and  explain  in  detail  the 
giving  of  the  tests.  Each  test  was  administered  under  the  direction 
of  the  seminar  representative  but  was  given  by  the  class  teacher.  In 
most  instances  the  marking  of  the  papers  was  by  the  teacher.  In  all 
cases,  however,  these  gradings  were  checked  and  verified  by  seminar 
groups.  This  was  tedious  work  but  for  uniformity  and  purposes  of 
comparison  it  was  found  necessary.  The  teachers  were*  most  conscient- 
ious in  their  markings  but  in  some  instances  it  was  found  that  there  were 
variations  in  judgment  even  when  the  form  of  the  answer  seemed  to  be 
explicit. 

Practically  every  pupil  in  the  system  participated.  All  classes  were 
included,  there  was  no  selection.  This  is  unusual  in  that  most  surveys 
have  made  random  selections  of  pupils.  In  all,  we  measured  from  five 
to  six  thousand  children  in  each  of  the  tests.  This  involved  the  handling 
of  about  twenty-five  thousand  papers.  We  wish  to  commend  your 
office  force  for  the  efficient  assistance  they  rendered  and  for  the  excel- 
lent mimeographed  forms  they  supplied  for  recording  our  data. 

The  entire  seminar  took  part  in  scoring  the  handwriting  samples 
and  in  checking  and  verifying  the  scores  on  the  various  test  sheets. 
Particular  subjects  however  were  assigned  committees  to  assemble  the 
data  in  tabular  and  graphic  form  and  to  make  constructive  suggestions. 
The  following  is  a  list  of  committees : 

Handwriting — ALEX  S.  BOULWARE,  Supervisor  of  Penmanship,  San  Francisco 

State  Normal  School,  San  Francisco. 
WILLIAM  F.  EWING,  Vice  Principal,  Oakland  Technical  High 

School,  Oakland. 

A.  J.  HAMILTON,  Principal,  Washington  School,  Berkeley. 
GEORGE  C.  KYTE,  Principal,  Emerson  School,  Berkele}'. 

Spelling        — Mrs.  CLARA  M.  PARTRIDGE,  Principal,  Oxford  School,  Berkeley. 
JEANNETTE  BARROWS,  Principal,  Hillside  School,  Berkeley. 
NORMA  E.  LEVEQUE,  Graduate  Student,  Boulder,  Colorado. 

Reading        — HARRY  H.  GLESSNER,  Principal  Edison  (Junior  High)  School, 

Berkeley. 

BERT  B.  DAVIS,  Normal  Director,  Walla  Walla  College,  College 
Place,  Washington. 
(Mrs.  PARTRIDGE  and  Miss  BARROWS  assisting). 


Arithmetic  (Fundamentals) — 

Louis  P.  LINN,  Instructor  in  Educational  Extension,  University 

of  California. 

MARY  B.  O'BANNON.  Principal  of  Jefferson  School,  Berkeley. 
ANNA  O'BANNON,  Teacher  of  Mathematics,  McKinley  School, 

Berkeley. 

Arithmetic  (Reasoning) — 

(Misses  ANNA  and  MARY  O'BANNON  and  Miss  BARROWS). 

The  Seminar  also  wishes  to  express  its  appreciation  of  the  help 
rendered  by  the  principals  and  teachers  of  the  system.  It  was  felt  that 
the  professional  improvement  resulting  from  the  teaching  force  taking 
a  direct  hand  would  more  than  offset  any  possible  variations  in  the 
giving  of  the  tests. 

Very  truly  yours, 

CYRUS  D.  MEAD, 

Associate  Professor  of  Elementary  Education, 

University  of  California. 


CHAPTER  I 
REPORT  OF  THE  COMMITTEE  ON  HANDWRITING 

The  first  test  to  be  given  the  children  of  the  Berkeley  Schools  in  the 
present  survey  was  the  test  in  handwriting.  In  order  to  determine  the 
speed  and  quality  of  the  handwriting  of  the  children  it  was  necessary 
to  obtain  samples  of  a  uniform  nature  produced  under  conditions  as 
nearly  uniform  as  possible.  Since  the  Gettysburg  Edition  of  the  Ay  res 
Handwriting  Scale  was  to  be  used  as  a  basis  for  judging  the  quality  of 
the  samples  of  handwriting,  it  was  deemed  wise  to  use  the  opening 
sentences  of  the  Gettysburg  Speech  as  the  material  for  the  test. 

The  following  instructions  in  regard  to  the  test  were  sent  out  from 
the  Superintendent's  office: 


THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS 
BERKELEY,  CALIFORNIA 

BULLETIN  No.  24, 
December  10,  1918. 

DIRECTIONS  FOR  GIVING  HANDWRITING  TESTS 

To  Principals  and  Teachers: 

On  Thursday,  December  12th,  or  Friday  the  13th,  it  is  desired  to 
secure  samples  of  handwriting  from  all  the  pupils  in  grades  two  to  nine 
inclusive.  A  representative  of  Dr.  Mead's  Seminar  will  come  to  your 
school  on  Thursday  to  assist  you  in  any  way.  The  samples  of  hand- 
writing should  be  secured  in  the  following  manner : 

Each  teacher  should  write  on  the  board  in  the  front  of  the  room, 
(and  the  sides  also,  if  desirable),  the  first  three  sentences  of  Lincoln's 
Gettysburg  Address.  As  a  preliminary  preparation,  the  pupils  should 
read  and  copy  this  until  they  are  thoroughly  familiar  with  it  and  practi- 
cally know  it  by  heart.  For  the  final  test,  preparations  should  be 
made  so  that  all  the  pupils  can  begin  to  copy,  and  stop,  at  a  given  signal. 
They  should  be  allowed  to  write  for  precisely  two  minutes.  Care 
should  be  taken  with  these  conditions.  It  is  not  likely  that  any  pupil 
will  be  able  to  copy  the  entire  three  sentences  in  the  two  minutes  allowed. 
See  that  the  papers  for  each  grade  are  fastened  together.  They  will 
be  scored  for  both  speed  and  quality. 


11 

The  writing  should  be  in  ink  and  on  ruled  paper.  Second  or  third 
grade  pupils  may  use  pencil  if  not  accustomed  to  ink.  Before  the  test 
begins,  have  each  pupil  write  his  name,  grade,  name  of  school  and  date 
on  the  reverse  side  of  the  paper.  The  teacher  should  mark  in  the  upper 
right-hand  corner  of  each  the  number  of  letters  written  by  the  pupil  in 
the  two  minutes.  The  following  count  of  letters  will  aid  in  scoring  the 
papers : 

Fourscore  9  and  12  seven  17  years  22  ago  25  our  28  fathers  35  brought 
42  forth  47  upon  51  this  55  continent  64  a  65  new  68  nation  74  conceived 
83  in  85  liberty  92  and  95  dedicated  104  to  106  the  109  proposition  120 
that  124  all  127  men  130  are  133  created  140  equal  145. 

Now  148  we  150  are  153  engaged  160  in  162  a  163  great  168  civil 
173  war  176  testing  183  whether  190  that  194  nation  200  or  202  any  205 
nation  211  so  213  conceived  222  and  225  so  227  dedicated  236  can  239 
long  243  endure  249.  We  251  are  254  met  257  on  259  a  260  great  265 
battlefield  276  of  278  that  282  war  285. 

Kindly  follow  the  above  directions  slavishly  and  absolutely,  that 
there  may  be  no  factor  entering  into  the  securing  of  these  writing  speci- 
mens which  would  render  the  results  impossible  to  use.  These  will 
reach  you  Wednesday,  the  day  before  the  representative  from  Dr. 
Mead's  Seminar  expects  to  visit  you.  Any  question  of  any  character 
or  any  detail  of  procedure  should  be  taken  up  with  this  representative 

at  the  time  of  the  visit.         _r 

Very  truly, 

H.  B.  WILSON, 

Superintendent  of  Schools. 

ORAL  INSTRUCTIONS  CONCERNING  THE  TEST 

Before  the  test  was  given  members  of  the  Seminar  conducting  the 
survey  met  the  teachers  of  the  several  schools  and  explained  in  detail 
the  technique  of  giving  the  test  and  handling  the  papers.  Especial 
attention  was  called  to  the  necessity  of  measuring  accurately  the  two- 
minute  period  which  was  allowed  for  the  test.  So  far  as  can  be  seen 
from  the  pupils'  papers,  the  test  was  carried  out  in  every  way  as  planned. 
In  many  cases  children  stopped  in  the  middle  of  a  word  and  often  the 
final  letters  were  left  unfinished. 

SCORING  THE  PAPERS 

By  far  the  greatest  task  in  connection  with  this  survey  of  the  Ber- 
keley Schools  was  the  problem  of  training  the  members  of  the  Seminar 
in  the  use  of  the  handwriting  scale.  Before  any  of  the  samples  of  hand- 
writing written  by  the  Berkeley  children  could  be  evaluated  for  quality 


12 

it  was  necessary  to  develop  a  consistency  in  the  use  of  the  scale  which 
would  be  trustworthy.  From  the  very  beginning  it  was  apparent  that 
the  judgments  of  the  members  of  the  Seminar  in  regard  to  quality  values 
must  be  standardized  before  the  actual  problem  of  rating  the  test  samples 
could  be  undertaken.  It  was  desired  that  all  members  of  the  Seminar 
participate  in  this  activity  so  that  the  final  judgments  of  quality  should 
be  a  composite  judgment  rather  than  a  personal  judgment  as  has  been 
the  case  in  most  of  the  surveys  of  handwriting  so  far  conducted. 

Only  a  few  of  the  members  had  previously  had  any  experience  with 
work  of  this  character  and  the  results  of  the  first  round  of  practice  showed 
a  wide  range  of  values  assigned  to  individual  papers.  This  was  found 
to  be  true  especially  with  regard  to  papers  which  were  in  any  way 
strikingly  different  from  the  samples  on  the  scale.  A  period  of  practice 
was,  therefore,  entered  into  which  extended  over  some  fifteen  weeks, 
although  but  eight  actual  rounds  of  practice  were  found  to  be  necessary. 
A  brief  statement  of  the  outcome  of  this  period  of  practice  is  here  given 
since  it  is  believed  the  findings  of  the  survey  in  regard  to  quality  of 
handwriting  will  be  better  appreciated  when  it  is  understood  with  what 
care  these  findings  were  determined. 

UNIFORMITY  OF  JUDGMENTS  AS  TO  QUALITY 

After  the  members  of  the  Seminar  had  practiced  rating  papers  for 
several  weeks  it  became  apparent  that  certain  members  tended  to  rate 
high  and  others  low.  By  careful  selection  of  the  rating  groups  these 
tendencies  were  so  balanced  that  the  composite  judgment  of  the  groups 
was  consistent  and  uniform  with  that  of  the  other  rating  groups.  (There 
were  twelve  members  divided  into  three  groups  of  four  each).  The 
results  of  the  last  round  of  practice  before  the  rating  of  the  test  papers 
was  begun  is  summarized  here  to  show  how  near  to  actual  uniformity 
the  judgments  had  become  as  a  result  of  practice  and  discussion. 

A  set  of  twenty-five  papers  ranging  in  quality  from  very  poor  to 
very  good  was  selected  for  practice.  All  members  of  the  Seminar  rated 
the  papers.  Composite  judgments  were  determined  for  the  three 
groups  into  which  the  Seminar  had  been  divided  as  previously  explained. 
The  following  table  gives  the  comparison  of  these  composite  judgments 
with  the  true  values: 

Group  Group  Group 

I  II  III 

Absolute  agreement  with  the  true  values 12  14  15 

Variation  of  \  step  from  the  true  values 11  11  7 

Variation  of  1  step  from  the  true  values 203 

25  25  25 


13 

When  it  is  understood  that  a  variation  of  one-half  step  from  the 
actual  value  on  the  scale  is  considered  by  competent  judges  the  country 
over  to  be  of  little  consequence,  it  can  be  seen  to  what  degree  the 
practice  work  had  been  effectual  in  standardizing  the  evaluation  of 
quality.  Out  of  the  seventy-five  composite  judgments  only  five  were 
as  much  as  one  step  away  from  the  true  value  and  no  values  were  as- 
signed showing  a  greater  variation  than  one  step.  (The  "true"  value 
for  each  sample  was  determined  by  averaging  the  judgments  of  the 
twelve  members  independently  of  the  rating  groups.  It  is  felt  that 
these  so-called  "true  values"  would  not  have  been  changed  so  much  as 
a  quarter  step  had  the  papers  been  rated  by  a  much  larger  group  of 
competent  judges,  hence,  there  is  no  hesitancy  in  accepting  them  as 
real  or  true  values.) 

When  the  ability  to  determine  quality  of  handwriting  had  been 
brought  to  a  satisfactory  standard  the  rating  of  the  test  papers  of  the 
Berkeley  children  was  undertaken.  The  papers  for  each  class  in  each 
school  were  so  divided  that  a  third  of  them  were  rated  by  each  of  the 
rating  groups.  The  value  assigned  to  each  paper  was  the  composite 
judgment  of  one  rating  group,  but  the  average  rating  for  the  class  was, 
after  all,  a  composite  of  the  judgments  of  the  whole  seminar. 


TABULATION  OF  RESULTS 

The  following  tables  give  the  results  of  the  handwriting  test  with 
regard  to  both  speed  and  quality.  A  perusal  of  these  tables,  and  especial- 
ly of  the  graphs  which  accompany  them,  should  prove  interesting  and 
helpful  to  all  who  are  concerned  with  the  educational  progress  of  the 
children  in  the  Berkeley  schools.  For  the  sake  of  comparison,  certain 
standards  of  attainment  have  been  placed  beside  the  figures  for  Ber- 
keley.* The  figures  for  two  other  school  systems  have  been  included 
as  a  means  of  comparison — Richmond,  California,  and  St.  Louis,  Mis- 
souri. 


*  The  achievement  in  Berkeley  Schools  has  been  made  under  a  prescribed  weekly 
minimum  time  allotment  as  follows: 

Grade     Grade     Grade     Grade     Grade     Grade     Grade     Grade 
I  II  III          IV  V  VI          VII        VIII 

Min.  per  week....  95         75        80        80        80        60 


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16 


TABLE  III 

MEASURES  OF  CENTRAL  TENDENCY  FOR  THE  BERKELEY  ScnooLs1 
Speed 


Grade 

Average 

Median 

Lower 
Quartile 

Upper 
Quartile 

Quartile 
Range 

2B 

21.47 

20.7 

15.07 

27.00 

11.93 

2A 

25.46 

24.7 

17.9 

32.07 

14.17 

3B 

36.54 

34.3 

26.13 

44.15 

18.02 

3A 

45.12 

43.7 

35.20 

53.50 

18.30 

4B 

51.21 

49.2 

40.42 

60.77 

20.35 

4A 

55.95 

54.8 

44  .41 

67.19 

22.78 

5B 

59.06 

58.4 

46.07 

70.72 

24.65 

5A 

69.67 

68.9 

58.48 

79.87 

21.39 

6B 

71.10 

71.1 

58.72 

82.32 

23.60 

6A 

77.54 

-,      77.2 

66.80 

87.78 

20.98 

7B 

87.84 

85.5 

73.33 

101.40 

28.07 

7A 

90.86 

88.7 

76.90 

103.33 

26.43 

SB 

96.78 

96.6 

81.27 

110.66 

29.39 

8A 

103.21 

103.3 

87.26 

118.49 

31.23 

9B 

104.15 

102.5 

91.04 

116.21 

25.17 

9A 

110.65 

109.4 

94.50 

127.62 

33.12 

1  Derived  from  Table  I. 


TABLE  IV 

MEASURES  OF  CENTRAL  TENDENCY  FOR  THE  BERKELEY  ScnooLs1 
Quality 


Grade 

Average 

Median 

Lower 
Quartile 

Upper 
Quartile 

Quartile 
Range 

2B 

36.27 

38.8 

31.83 

41.72 

9.89 

2A 

37.98 

38.3 

32.94 

42.91 

9.97 

3B 

39.06 

39.0 

32.82 

44.65 

11.83 

3A 

37.83 

37.3 

31.55 

43.57 

12.02 

4B 

37.16 

37.3 

32.46 

42.14 

9.68 

4A 

40.22 

39.3 

34.69 

48.75 

14.06 

SB 

40.33 

39.4 

34.64 

44.78 

10.14 

SA 

41.13 

40.6 

34.56 

46.85 

12.29 

6B 

41.89 

41.2 

35.67 

47.14 

11.47 

6A 

42  18 

41.2 

35.88 

48.56 

12.68 

7B 

43.09 

42.7 

37.01 

48.23 

11.21 

7A 

45.31 

44.7 

40.02 

50.72 

10.70 

SB 

45.41 

44.6 

38.89 

51.31 

12.42 

8A 

44.58 

43.8 

39.05 

49.56 

10.51 

9B 

49.91 

49.1 

43.66 

56.35 

12.69 

9A 

47.69 

47.2 

41.30 

53.81 

12.51 

1  Derived  from  Table  II. 


17 


TABLE  V 

AVERAGE  SCORES  IN  SPEED  BY  GRADES 
Comparative  Tables 

Grade  Berkeley  *St.  Louis  tRichmond  JAyres  Standard 

2  25.5  36.7  31 

3  45.1  56.8  39.2  44 

4  56.0  64.0  48.4  55 

5  69.7  65.6  67.2  64 

6  77.6  69.3  80.1  71 

7  90.9  74.7  82.8  76 

8  103.2  72.8  94.6  79 

9  110.6  

*  See  No.  8  in  Selected  Bibliography  on  Handwriting  which  is  appended  to  this 
report. 

f  Data  from  an  unpublished  study  made  by  A.  S.  Boulware,  Geo.  C.  Kyte, 
and  A.  J.  Hamilton  (1919). 

%  See  No.  3  in  Selected  Bibliography. 

TABLE  VI 

AVERAGE  SCORES  IN  QUALITY  BY  GRADES 
Comparative  Tables* 

Grade  Berkeley  St.  Louis  Richmond  Ayres  Standard 

2  38.0  29.9  38 

3  37.8  31.8  38.4  42 

4  40.2  36.7  44.5  46 

5  41.1  49.4  56.8  50 

6  42.2  57.0  54.3  54 

7  45.3  63.4  65.9  58 

8  44.6  74.3  67.0  62-- 

9  47.7 

*  See  sources  of  data  given  in  footnotes  to  Table  V. 

INTERPRETATION  OF  DATA 

Tables  I  and  II  are  tables  of  distribution  for  speed  and  for  quality; 
Tables  III  and  IV  are  derived  tables  showing  the  central  tendencies  for 
the  several  grades.  It  will  be  seen  from  a  study  of  the  figures  in  Tables 
III  and  V,  and  the  graph  in  Diagram  I,  that  the  children  of  Berkeley 
excell  to  a  marked  degree  in  speed  from  the  fifth  grade  on.  In  the 
Intermediate  schools  this  superiority  in  speed  is  very  marked;  even  the 
median  of  the  lower  half  of  the  children  is  superior  to  the  standard  as 
set  up  by  Ayres.  (Note  the  position  of  the  lower  quartile  in  relation 
to  the  standard  curve  in  Diagram  I.)  The  Ayres  Standard,  moreover, 
is  approximately  the  average  of  the  ability  of  a  great  many  thousand 
children;  it  is  widely  recognized  as  a  satisfactory  working  standard. 


18 
DIAGRAM  I.     SPEED  IN  HANDWRITING 


A  3B  Jfl  4B  4A  5B  5 A  6B  6A  7B  7A  66  6A7B  ?A 

G        I       o        5      5       e       s 

Exactly  the  opposite  condition  is  found  to  exist  in  regard  to  quality 
of  handwriting.  The  median  attainment  for  Berkeley  children  is 
decidedly  below  the  Ayres  Standard  after  the  low  third  grade  (Tables 
IV  and  VI).  A  more  striking  feature  of  the  situation,  however,  is 
revealed  by  a  study  of  Diagram  II,  which  is  based  upon  the  figures  of 
Tables  IV  and  VI.  The  median  attainment  in  the  Berkeley  low  second 
grade  is  39  (on  the  Ayres  Scale)  and  in  the  low  ninth  it  is  only  49 — an 
improvement  of  ten  points.  According  to  standards  widely  accepted 
throughout  the  country  the  attainment  for  the  eighth  grade  and  beyond 


19 


DIAGRAM  II.     QUALITY  IN  HANDWRITING. 


80 


70 


60 


jo 


5B  5A  66  6fl  7B  7A  8  B  8A 

Classes 


ought  to  be  at  least  63  or  64.  Diagram  III,  which  is  based  upon  the  figures 
of  Tables  V  and  VI,  shows  the  facts  of  the  situation  by  the  two-co- 
ordinate method.  Whereas  the  Standard  attainment  in  quality  pro- 
gresses regularly  from  38  to  62,  and  whereas  the  curves  for  St.  Louis 
and  for  Richmond  approximate  this  curve,  Berkeley  fails  to  get  beyond 
the  50  mark  at  any  point.  On  the  other  hand,  the  superiority  in  speed 
stands  out  very  clearly.  Apparently  the  children  of  Berkeley  write 
faster  than  other  children  —  and  with  greater  illegibility.  For  the 
teaching  force  the  problem  facing  them  would  seem  to  be  very  clear: 
emphasis  needs  to  be  placed  upon  formation  and  excessive  speed 
should  not  be  allowed  to  destroy  legibility.  It  has  often  been  stated 
that  a  happy  medium  must  be  found  between  the  two,  and  the  recom- 
mendation seems  to  strike  home  in  Berkeley  with  particular  force. 


20 


21 


Speed 
90 

80 
70 
60 

50 
40 

30 

20 

10 


DIAGRAM  IV.     WASHINGTON  SCHOOL 


6 


25  30 

Quality 

Median 


35 


40 
Standard 


45 


50 


55 


It  may  be  noted  in  passing  that  the  lack  of  drill  in  letter  formation 
— and  the  process  of  producing  writing — is  also  apparent  in  the  lack 
of  any  pronounced  similarity  in  the  handwriting  of  the  Berkeley  children. 
This  factor  cannot  be  shown  in  any  tables,  but  was  noted  again  and 
again  by  members  of  the  Seminar.  Whereas  in  many  systems  where 
writing  is  extensively  taught  and  supervised, — in  short,  where  there  is 
a  strong  central  direction  in  the  subject  of  penmanship, — there  is 
naturally  a  very  considerable  degree  of  uniformity  of  style  and  size  of 
letters,  in  Berkeley  there  is  a  lack  of  any  uniformity,  unless  the  tendency 
to  a  very  small  writing  may  be  deemed  a  type  of  uniformity. 


22 


Speed 
90 


DIAGRAM  V.    MCKINLEY  SCHOOL 


80 


70 


60 


30 


20 


10 


25  30 

Quality 


35 


Median 


40  45 

Standard .  - 


50 


55 


It  would  seem,  then,  that  the  problem  of  penmanship  teaching  in 
Berkeley  is  clear-cut:  greater  attention  to  the  process  of  writing  and  the 
development  of  good  legible  forms,  with  very  little  stress,  for  the  present, 
upon  speed.  Schools,  no  doubt,  have  sometimes  made  the  mistake  of 
striving  to  attain  a  degree  of  excellency  in  form  not  consistent  with  the 
proper  expenditure  of  time  and  effort  on  the  part  of  teacher  and  pupil, 
but  the  world  at  large  needs  and  uses  a  standard  of  writing  as  good  as 
quality  50  and  in  special  lines  of  work,  above  60.*  The  public  schools 
should  at  least  develop  that  degree  of  speed  and  quality  which  the 

*  See  No.  14  in  Selected  Bibliography. 


23 


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28 


DIAGRAM  IX.     Speed  and  Quality  of  Handwriting  of  pupils,  grades  2  to  6, 


Speed 
90 


in  one  elementary  school,  compared  with  the  Ayres  standards. 


70 


60 


SO 


40 


3O 


v 


FiANKLIN 


25  30 

Quality 


35 


40 


45 


50 


55 


average  person  is  to  use  in  after  life.  The  need  of  the  specialist  may 
well  be  considered  a  vocational  problem,  but  the  need  of  the  masses 
is  the  creed  of  the  school. 


COMPARISON  OF  TYPICAL  SCHOOLS 

Tables  VII  and  VIII  are  tables  of  distribution  for  speed  and  quality 
in  two  typical  schools,  the  Washington  and  McKinley.  The  Washington 
represents  the  type  approaching  more  nearly  the  standard  curve  for 
both  speed  and  quality,  and  the  McKinley,  the  type  with  the  greatest 
deviation  from  the  standard  curve. 

It  will  be  seen  from  a  study  of  the  figures  in  these  tables  that  the 
pupils  in  both  schools  in  speed  and  also  quality  approximate  closely  in 
their  distribution,  a  normal  probability  curve.  However^  the  range 
in  speed  of  the  McKinley  pupils  is  much  greater  than  that  of  the 


29 


DIAGRAM  X.     Speed  and  Quality  of  Handwriting  of  pupils,  grades  2  to  6, 

in  four  elementary  schools,  compared  with  the  Ayres  standards. 
Speed 

90 


90 


5 

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25               50             35               40                 45               SO                                 SO               35              40               45               5O              SS 

Quality 

Washington  pupils,  but  the  range  in  quality  is  considerably  less.  Also  it 
will  be  seen  that  only  7%  of  the  pupils  in  the  McKinley  school  score 
(on  the  Ayres  scale)  50  or  above,  a  standard  shown  by  Koos  in  a  recent 
study  to  be  high  enough  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  world  at  large.  While 
in  the  Washington  school  15%  of  the  pupils  have  attained  that  standard. 
Diagrams  IV  and  V  show  in  a  graphical  form  the  medians  of  grades 
2s  to  GA  inclusive  in  both  schools  compared  with  the  Ayres  standard 
curve.  Similar  data  for  all  remaining  schools  are  pictured  in  Diagrams 
IX,  X,  XI,  XII,  XIII. 

In  an  elementary  school  comprising  the  first  six  grades  it  seems  fair 
to  assume  that  the  attainment  of  the  high  sixth  class  is  typical  of  the 
school,  therefore  Diagram  VI  is  included  in  this  survey  for  the  purpose 
of  making  a  comparative  study  of  the  various  schools  in  the  city. 
Diagram  VIII  pictures  the  same  data  for  the  Junior  High  Schools. 


30 


DIAGRAM  XI.   Speed  and  Quality  of  Handwriting  of  pupils,  grades  2  to  6, 

in  four  elementary  schools,  compared  with  the  Ayres  standards. 
Speed 


"74 


V 


80 


25  30 

Quality 


(Berkeley  Medians 


;  Ayres  Averages 


In  Berkeley  where  the  speed  in  all  grades  above  the  fourth  in  most 
of  the  schools  is  much  beyond  the  standard  it  would  seem  to  be  the 
problem  of  such  schools  to  lay  great  stress  upon  the  development  of 
quality  even  at  the  expense  of  speed  if  quality  has  not  kept  pace  with 
speed.  Diagram  VII  shows  in  a  marked  way  to  what  an  extent  speed 
has  been  developed  in  the  Berkeley  schools  in  all  grades  at  the  expense 
of  quality. 


31 


DIAGRAM  XII.   Speed  and  Quality  of  Handwriting  of  pupils,  grades  2  to  6, 

in  four^elementary  schools,  compared  with  the  Ay  res  standards. 
Speed 


>  5 


fc 


7 


30 


25  30  35  40  45  5O 

Quality 

(Berkeley  Medians 


30  35  40  45  60  55 


Ayres  Averages 


32 


DIAGRAM  XIII.    Speed  and  Quality  of  Handwriting  of  pupils,  grades  7  to  9, 

in  four  intermediate  schools,  compared  with  the  Ayres  standards. 
Speed 


"1 


120 


110 


100 


90 


80 


70 


150 


120 


110 


100 


90 


80 


70 


N 


EDISON 


! URBANK 


\ 


60 


•riLLARD 


5  ' 


CARFIELD 


40  45 

Quality 


50 


55 


60 


45 


50 


(Berkeley  Medians ;  Ayres  Averages 


55 


60 


65 


33 

For  the  sake  of  those  who  may  be  interested  in  reading  for  them- 
selves concerning  the  status  of  writing  as  revealed  in  current  educational 
comment  the  following  brief  bibliography  is  appended. 

SELECTED  BIBLIOGRAPHY  ON  HANDWRITING 

1.  ASHBAUGH,  E.  J.:  Handwriting  of  Iowa  school  children,    Extension  division 

bulletin  No.  15,  University  of  Iowa  1916. 

2.  AYRES,  L.  P. :  A  scale  ("Three  Slant  Edition")  for  measuring  the  quality  of 

handwriting  of  school  children.     No.  113      Division  of  Education,  Russell 
Sage  Foundation.     New  York  1912. 

3.  — :   Handwriting  scale    (" Gettysburg   Edition")    and  standards.     Russell 

Sage  Foundation.     New  York  1917. 

4.  — :  The  public  schools  of  Springfield  Illinois.     Pages  74-77,  Russell  Sage 

Foundation.     New  York  1914. 

5.  Boston,  Mass. :  Public  school  document  No.  6.     1916. 

6.  FREEMAN,  F.  N.:  An  analytical  scale  for  judging  handwriting.     Elementary 

school  journal,  April  1915. 

7.  — :  Handwriting.     Chapter  V,  Fourteenth  yearbook  of  the  national  society 

for  the  study  of  education  1915. 

8.  — :  Handwriting,  Chapter  XIV.  St.  Louis  Survey  1916. 

9.  — :  Penmanship,   Chapter  VII,   Grand  Rapids  school  survey.     Board  fo 

Education,  Grand  Rapids,  Michigan,  1916. 

10.  — :  Principles  of  method  in  teaching  writing  as  derived  from  scientific  in- 

vestigation.    Chapter  I,  Part  II.     Eighteenth  yearbook  of  the  national 
society  for  the  study  of  education. 

11.  — :  Teaching  of  handwriting.     Boston,  Houghton  Mifflin  Company  1914. 

12.  GRAY,  C.  T. :  The  training  of  judgment  in  the  use  of  the  Ayres  scale  for  hand- 

writing.    Journal  of  education  psychology,  1915. 

13.  JUDD,  C.  H. :  Tests  of  handwriting.     Chapter  IV.     Measuring  the  work  of  the 

public  schools,  Survey  committee  of  the  Cleveland  Foundation,  1916. 

14.  Koos,  L.  V.:  Determining  ultimate  standards.     Elementary  school  journal, 

February  1918. 

15.  Iowa  State  Teachers'  Association:  Bulletin  of  the,  November  1916.     Elimina- 

tion of  obsolete  and  useless  topics  and  materials  from  the  common  branches. 

16.  MEAD,  CYRUS  D.:  The  effect  of  exempting  pupils  proficient  in  handwriting, 

Journal  of  educational  psychology,  April  1917. 

17.  MONROE,  W.  S. :  Handwriting.     Chapter  VI,  Second  and  third  annual  reports 

of   the   bureau   of   educational   measurements   and   standards,    1915-' 16, 
1916-17.     Kansas  State  Printing  Plant,  Topeka,  1917. 

18.  — :  Measuring  the  results  of  teaching.     Chapter  8.     Houghton  Mifflin  Co. 

1918. 

19.  MONROE,  W.  S.,  DsVoss,  J.  C.,  and  KELLY.  F.  J.:  Educational  tests  and  mea- 

surements.    Boston,  Houghton  Mifflin  Co.     1917. 

20.  STARCH,    DANIEL:    Measurement   of   efficiency   in   handwriting.     Journal   of 

educational  psychology.     February  1915. 

21.  — :  Writing  scale.     University  Cooperative  Co.,  Madison.  Wisconsin. 

22.  THORNDIKE,  E.  L. :  Handwriting.     Teachers  College  Record  II,  No.  2,  March 

1910.     Columbia  University,  New  York. 


CHAPTER  II 

REPORT  OF  THE  COMMITTEE  ON  SPELLING 
MATERIAL  FOR  THE  TEST  AND  PLAN  OF  GIVING 

On  March  13,  1919,  at  the  same  hour  in  a  given  school,  the  pupils 
from  the  low  second  to  the  high  ninth  grades  inclusive  were  asked  to 
spell  twenty  words.  The  words  were  chosen  from  the  Ay  res  Measuring 
Scale  for  Ability  in  Spelling.  It  has  been  found  that  classes  make,  on 
the  average,  a  grade  of  73  per  cent,  when  they  attempt  to  spell  these 
words.  These  lists  were  the  same  that  were  dictated  to  the  children  of 
the  Cleveland  Ohio  Survey.  Several  days  before  the  day  of  the  test 
the  principals  and  teachers  received  the  following  bulletin  of  instruc- 
tions from  the  office  of  the  Superintendent : 

INSTRUCTIONS  CONCERNING  SPELLING  TESTS 

Berkeley,  California, 

March  12,  1919. 
To  Principals  and  Teachers: 

On  Thursday,  March  13th,  a  representative  of  Professor  Mead's 
Seminar  will  come  to  your  school  for  the  purpose  of  giving,  or  assisting 
the  teachers  in  giving,  a  test  in  spelling  from  the  second  to  the  ninth 
grades  inclusive.  Lists  of  words  will  be  provided  by  the  above  rep- 
resentative. Do  no  "teaching"  of  the  words.  Provide  your  class  with 
such  material  as  they  regularly  use  in  a  spelling  lesson.  See  that  each 
pupil  writes  his  name,  date,  grade  (A  or  B),  and  school.  Dictate  the 
spelling  list  as  you  would  ordinarily  in  a  written  spelling  period.  If 
necessary,  you  may  use  a  word  in  a  sentence  in  order  to  make  clear  its 
meaning.  Have  the  pupils  spell,  however,  only  the  word.  Collect  and 
immediately  mark  all  papers  on  the  percentage  basis,  writing  the  score 
in  the  upper  right  hand  corner,  deducting  five  per  cent,  for  each  mis- 
spelled word.  An  omitted  word  should  be  counted  as  an  incorrect 
spelling.  Attach  the  spelling  list  to  the  papers  and  hand  the  same, 
properly  clasped,  to  the  representative.  It  is  important  that  this  test 
be  given  Thursday,  preferably  Thursday  morning.  Please  see  that  the 
above  directions  are  followed  implicitly. 

Very  truly, 

H.  B.  WILSON, 

Superintendent  of  Schools. 


35 


ORAL  INSTRUCTIONS 

In  addition  to  this,  the  representative  was  authorized  to  give  such 
oral  instruction  to  the  teachers  as  seemed  necessary  for  a  clear  under- 
standing of  what  they  and  the  children  were  expected  to  do.  The  most 

important  of  these  oral  directions  were : 

• 

1.  Not  to  tell  the  children  they  were  taking  a  "test." 

2.  Dictate  at  the  usual  writing  speed  of  the  class. 

3.  The  teacher  to  number  the  words  as  they  were  dictated. 

4.  If  the  pupil  began  a  word  incorrectly,  then  changed  it,  it  was  to  be  counted 

right,  if  correctly  done  at  last,  if  the  teacher  was  sure  the  word  was  not 
copied. 


TABULATION  OF  RESULTS 

The  papers  were  collected  and  marked  by  the  teachers,  then  turned 
over  to  the  waiting  representative  who  later  revised  the  gradings.  It 
was  interesting  to  discover  that  almost  as  many  papers  had,  in  the  haste 
of  marking,  been  marked  too  low  as  too  high.  Where  some  percen- 
tages had  to  be  lowered  five  or  ten  points,  others  had  to  be  raised  ten  or 
fifteen.  The  spelling  committee  advises,  that  in  the  test  of  next  term, 
more  time  be  allowed  for  this  part  of  the  teachers'  work. 

The  score  of  each  grade  was  tallied  on  sheets  like  the  accompanying 
form  which  shows  the  record  for  a  typical  A  sixth  grade,  and  upon  these 
sheets  was  computed  the  correction  on  the  guessed  average  to  get  the 
true  average. 

The  grade  scores  and  averages  were  assembled  upon  two  different 
forms.  One  form  showed  the  scores  and  averages  for  each  grade  in  a 
particular  school ;  the  other  form  showed  the  scores  and  averages  of  the 
same  grade  in  all  the  schools.  Upon  the  totals  found  upon  each  sheet, 
the  committee  has  computed  the  guessed  and  true  average,  the  average 
deviation,  the  median,  and  the  quartile  deviation.  The  number  of 
computations  on  each  sheet  was  fourteen.  Where  there  were  several 
classes  of  a  grade,  as  for  example,  six  in  the  high  seventh  of  the  Willard 
School,  the  computations  were  increased  to  the  number  of  twice  the 
additional  divisions.  The  thirty-five  sheets  necessary  to  formulate 
this  report  represent  a  total  of  four  hundred  ninety  computations  with- 
out the  additional  pairs  made  necessary  by  the  three,  four  and  six-fold 
divisions  of  several  grades.  This  will  explain  the  fact  that  several 
months  passed  before  the  results  of  the  tests  were  made  accessible  to 
teachers. 


36 


TYPICAL  SCORE,  SIXTH  A  GRADE 
Spelling 


0 

5 

10 

15 

20 

25 

30 

35 

2 

40 

45 

50 

3 

55 

1 

60 

65 

2 

70 

1 

75 

2 

80 

1 

85 

2 

90 

2 

95 

2 

100 

1 

N. 

19 

Guessed  Av. 

77.5 

True  Av. 

73.3 

37 


FACTORS  TO  BE  CONSIDERED  IN  INTERPRETATION  OF  RESULTS 

Before  discussing  the  tabulations  and  graphs,  attention  is  invited  to 
the  following  facts: 

The  test  was  given  on  March  13,  four  weeks  and  three  days  after 
the  mid-year  promotions  which  were  made  on  February  10.  The 
achievement  of  Berkeley  as  a  whole  is  not,  therefore,  entirely  compar- 
able with  that  of  those  cities  where  the  test  was  given  at  the  mid-year 
period.  In  other  words,  the  B  section  of  every  grade  was  much  nearer 
to  the  A  section  of  the  grade  below,  than  to  the  A  section  of  their  own 
grade. 

The  second  thing  that  must  be  taken  into  consideration  in  inter- 
preting Berkeley's  record  is  that  there  was  an  enforced  vacation  due 
to  the  influenza  totaling  nine  weeks.  For  purposes  of  comparison, 
however,  the  results  with  the  B,  or  lower,  sections  were  not  used.  The 
average  results  of  the  A  or  upper,  section  of  each  grade  were  used  in  the 
comparison  of  Berkeley  with  other  cities.  As  a  matter  of  fact  then, 
these  A  sections  were  still  about  four  weeks  short  of  the  mid-year. 

A  third  point  should  be  kept  in  mind.  In  the  Berkeley  Survey  there 
was  no  sampling,  but  every  spelling  was  used.  5814  children  of  the 
city  spelled,  or  attempted  to  spell,  twenty  words  each.  The  tabulations 
therefore  represent  116,280  spellings.  In  no  other  survey,  so  far  as 
known,  has  this  been  true.  San  Francisco  was  notably  sampled  even 
after  the  spelling  was  given  in  only  a  part  of  the  schools  of  the  city. 

In  another  way  the  Berkeley  Survey  is  unique.  The  entire  teach- 
ing staff  of  the  Elementary  and  the  Intermediate  Departments  had  an 
important  part  in  it.  In  other  cities  with  which  Berkeley  has  been 
compared,  the  tests  were  conducted  in  the  main  by  persons  who  were 
strangers  to  the  children.  In  Berkeley  unfamiliar  personalities  were 
not  a  confusing  element.  This  should  have  induced  a  better  perfor- 
mance on  the  part  of  the  children.  The  participation  of  the  teachers 
in  the  work  brought  out  re-actions  impossible  if  classes  had  been  visited 
and  tested  by  outsiders.  Those  re-actions  are  bound  to  result  in  great 
good  to  the  schools  because  intelligent  criticism  and  helpful  suggestions 
are  most  desirable  if  real  growth  is  to  be  secured. 


38 


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TABLE  III 

TABLE  OF  AVERAGES — A  SECTIONS 
(Averages  of  Averages) 

Grade     Grade     Grade     Grade     Grade     Grade     Grade 
II  III  IV  V  VI  VII         VIII 

Standard 73        73        73        73         73        73         73 

Berkeley 60.7     73.9     65.9     65.6     75.2     72.3     74.2 

INTERPRETATION  OF  RESULTS 

Table  I  (Distribution  of  Spelling  Scores  for  Berkeley,  Regardless  of 
Schools)  shows  the  total  number  of  distributions  of  each  measure  for 
the  different  grades  throughout  the  Berkeley  system.  For  illustration: 
out  of  the  371  pupils  in  the  A  second  grade,  27  made  a  score  of  100  per 
cent.,  while  the  entire  number  of  second  grade  pupils  made  an  average 
of  62.7  per  cent. 

Table  II  (Average  Score  made  by  the  High  and  Low  Sections  of 
Each  Grade,  according  to  schools)  when  read  horizontally  shows  the 
class  average  of  each  school  for  each  of  the  grades  and  also  the  average 
for  the  school.  When  read  perpendicularly,  it  shows  the  average  by 
grades  in  each  school  and  for  the  system. 

Table  III  (Table  of  Averages)  represents  the  averages  of  the  class 
averages,  by  grades,  in  the  entire  system  regardless  of  schools.  Thus 
the  average  of  all  the  second  grades  (A  Div.)  in  Berkeley  is  60.7  per  cent. 

The  averages  pictured  in  Chart  I  (Averages  of  Averages)  show  that 
the  Berkeley  Schools,  as  a  whole,  are  a  little  above  the  73  per  cent,  score 
in  the  third,  sixth  and  eighth  grades,  but  that  the  second,  fourth  and 
fifth  grades  fall  surprisingly  low,  while  the  seventh  closely  approximates 
the  73  per  cent,  point.  The  equality  of  the  fourth  and  fifth  grades  in 
negative  ability  is  significant  and  gives  rise  to  several  questions  regard- 
ing the  causes  for  the  condition.  The  average  for  the  entire  City  of 
Berkeley  is  69.7  per  cent. 

A  comparison  of  Berkeley's  record  with  that  of  Cl  veland  brings 
out  the  fact  that  in  both  cities  good  and  poor  spelling  ability  lies,  re- 
latively, in  the  same  grades.  The  very  low  attainment  of  the  second 
grade  is  probably  due  to  two  facts:  (1)  spelling  as  a  subject  is  not  regular- 
ly taught  in  all  the  first  grades;  and  (2)  in  nearly  all  the  classes  the  second 
grade  children  were  using  paper  and  the  pencil  as  a  medium  for  the  first 
time  on  the  day  of  the  test.  We  do  not  understand  the  low  scores  of  the 
fourth  and  the  fifth  grades.  Since  the  same  grades  in  Cleveland  occupy 
the  same  relative  position,  there  is  perhaps  some  unknown  factor  that 
influenced  the  achievement  in  both  cities.  This  suggests  further  study. 


41 


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42 

Not  only  is  there  a  wide  difference  between  the  same  grades  of  the 
different  schools  in  Berkeley,  but  the  range  within  the  individual  schools 
is  in  some  instances  very  large.  The  variation  in  the  averages  made  by 
the  different  grades  in  the  Berkeley  Schools,  as  shown  in  Table  II,  is 
from  60.7  per  cent,  in  the  second  grade  to  75.2  per  cent,  in  the  sixth,  a 
variation  of  14.5  per  cent.  In  Cleveland  the  range  is  from  73  to  80 
per  cent.,  a  variation  of  only  7  per  cent.  In  the  Elementary  group,  the 
school  having  the  greatest  range  shows  a  spread  from  16.2  per  cent,  in 
the  B  second  to  87  per  cent,  in  the  A  sixth.  The  one  showing  the  least 
variation  extends  from  61.8  per  cent,  to  78.3  per  cent.  In  the  Inter- 
mediate group,  (seventh  and  eighth  grades  only)  the  same  thing  is  true. 
The  greatest  range  is  from  53.2  per  cent,  to  79.2;  the  least  from  59  to 
68.8  per  cent.  The  fourth  grades  (A  Div.)  which  average  65.9  per  cent, 
have  a  reach  from  44  per  cent,  to  81.1  and  the  fifth  grades  (A  Div.)  which 
average  65.6  per  cent,  offers  54.2  per  cent,  as  the  lowest  grade  average, 
and  74.1  as  the  highest. 

To  arrive  at  a  more  definite  conclusion  regarding  the  causes  of  this 
condition,  detailed  studies  of  the  causes  of  pupils'  misspellings  would 
have  to  be  made.  Such  a  study  is  suggested  by  Monroe  in  "Measuring 
the  Results  of  Teaching,"  pages  192  to  202. 

Time  has  not  permitted  this,  therefore  the  Committee  is  not  willing 
to  hazard  an  opinion.  One  thing  however  does  seem  to  be  indicated, 
and  that  is,  that  there  is  too  much  attention  given  to  the  spelling  of 
mere  lists  of  words  which  the  pupil  may  already  know,  and  not  enough 
to  systematic  development  of  the  ability  to  attack  a  new  word.  In- 
attentive application  to  what  one  already  knows  produces  a  mental 
apathy  which  can  soon  .become  a  fixed  habit. 


RECOMMENDATIONS 

In  view  of  the  fact  that  a  more  complete  diagnosis  cannot  be  made 
at  this  time,  the  Committee  is  limited  in  the  kind  and  the  number  of 
the  recommendations  that  it  can  make.  The  first  and  the  most  impor- 
tant from  the  Committee's  point  of  view  is  that  a  copy  of  each  grade 
and  school  sheet,  a  copy  of  the  tables  of  averages,  and  of  the  graph,  be 
furnished  to  every  school  in  each  group  and  that  the  schools  themselves 
study  these  results  and  endeavor  to  arrive  at  a  conclusion  which  may  be 
passed  on  to  the  teaching  staff  in  order  that  a  better  and  more  uniform 
quality  of  work  may  be  done  in  the  grades. 

To  facilitate  and  illumine  the  study  of  these  tabulations  and  graphs, 
we  recommend  that  the  Board  of  Education  supply  each  school  with  one 
or  more  copies  of  the  following  books: 


43 

The  Eighteenth  Year  Book,  (the  1919  issue),  in  which  there  are  forty-one 
principles  of  method  in  spelling  presented  as  the  last  word  from  the 
Committee  on  Economy  of  Time  in  Education.  This  same  Yearbook 
contains  similar  principles  of  method  in  reading,  writing  and  arithmetic. 

MONROE:  Measuring  the  Results  of  Teaching.     Houghton  Mifflin  Company. 

TIDYMAN:  The  Teaching  of  Spelling.     World  Book  Company 

PKARSON  and  SUZZALLO  :  Essentials  of  Spelling.     American  Book  Company 

There  is  now  in  the  hands  of  the  Elementary  teachers,  and  it  should 
be  in  the  Intermediate  grades,  a  copy  of  the  California  Teacher's  Manual 
of  Spelling.  This  offers  illuminating  material  for  the  teachers'  guidance. 
An  extensive  bibliography  is  also  listed  in  the  Eighteenth  Yearbook,  to 
which  attention  is  directed. 

To  facilitate  the  movement  for  an  improvement  in  spelling  ability, 
the  Committee  offers  the  following  suggestions  taken  from  the  investiga- 
tions previously  mentioned  and  recommends  that  they  be  put  into  the 
hands  of  each  teacher  and  acted  upon  immediately. 

The  Committee  sees  two  phases  of  the  matter,  and  has  arranged  the 
recommendations  under  two  headings.  For  the  teacher  we  submit 
guidance  in  the  methods  of  teaching  spelling.  For  the  pupil — to  be 
taught  to  him  by  the  teacher — directions  for  the  method  of  studying 
spelling. 

I.  Guidance  in  the  Method  of  Teaching  Spelling 

1.  The  time,  15  minutes  daily,  devoted  to  spelling,  should  largely 
be  spent  on  class  instruction  under  the  direction  of  the  teacher;  in  other 
words,  it  should  be  devoted  to  teaching  rather  than  to  testing. 

2.  Any  good  plan   of  teaching  may  be  followed.     Suzzallo  and 
Pearson  in  their  recent  text,  " Essentials  of  Spelling,"  present  the  fol- 
lowing excellent  procedure: 

a.  Write  the  new  word  in  its  normal  form  on  the  blackboard.     (Make  use  of 
the  visual  sense) . 

b.  While  writing  it,  pronounce  it  distinctly. 

c.  Develop  the  meaning  orally,  by  calling  on  the  pupil  for  a  sentence  using 
the  word,  or  by  giving  yourself  a  sentence,  or  by  denning  the  word. 

d.  Show  the  syllables  into  which  the  word  is  divided,  either  by  drawing  ver- 
tical lines  between  the  syllables  (or  lines  under),  or  by  covering  the  word 
so  that  but  one  syllable  at  a  time  is  seen.     Call  upon  the  pupils  to  spell 
orally  by  syllables.     (It  is  well  to  have  the  pupil  form  the  habit  of  clearly 
pronouncing  the  word  before  and  after  spelling.)     Have  them  indicate 
the  part  of  the  word  that  presents  difficulties  or  the  part  that  they  already 
know. 

e.  Have  the  pupils  write  the  word  on  practice  paper  several  times,  spelling 
it  quietly  as  they  write. 


44 

/.  Allow  the  class  a  moment  in  which  to  look  at  the  word  again,  then  close 
the  eyes  and  try  to  visualize  it. 

g.  Provide  plenty  of  repetition  for  drill,  oral  and  written.  (Some  teachers 
give  their  pupils  four  or  five  minutes,  say,  to  "study"  their  written  word 
lists,  after  teaching,  then  have  the  class  turn  their  papers  over  to  spell 
from  rapid  dictation,  this  to  determine  the  daily  spelling  grade). 

3.  For  interesting  methods  of  drill,  the  group  contest  in  spelling 
games  is  recommended.     S.  A.  Courtis'  Teaching  Spelling  by  Plays  and 
Games,  (82  Eliot  St.,  Detroit)  contains  explicit  directions  for  a  number 
of  such. 

4.  Teach  the  pupil  to  correct  his  own  errors. 

5.  Insist  upon  careful  spelling  in  all  written  work. 

The  committee  wishes  to  emphasize  the  following  negative  matters 
in  method: 

1.  Do  not  require  a  pupil  ''to  write  a  word  ten,  fifteen  or  twenty  times 
mechanically."     Repetition   should  be   accompanied   by   attention,    and 
the  teacher  should  know  that  such  is  the  case. 

2.  Do  not  permit  children  to  correct  one  another's  spelling. 

3.  Do  not  call  attention  unnecessarily  to  the  wrong  wordform.     For  example, 
never  say,  "Do  not  use  two  1's  in  until."     Say  rather,  "Notice  the  one 
1  in  until." 

4.  Do  not  drill  upon  words  the  children  already  know  and  do  not  drill  upon 
all  words  alike. 

II.  Directions  to  be  followed  in  Studying  Spelling 

The  California  Manual  for  the  Teachers  on  page  8  says:  "It  is 
much  more  important  that  the  child  should  know  how  to  study  new 
words  than  that  he  should  be  forced  arbitrarily  to  memorize  any  fixed 
series  of  words."  The  teacher  should  then  see  that  he  knows  how  to 
study  spelling.  Excellent  directions  are  to  be  found  in  the  Children's 
Preface  of  the  new  California  State  Series  of  Spellers,  and  the  teacher 
should  see  that  each  pupil  understands  and  uses  that  method  or  some 
one  equally  good. 

The  pupil  should  be  taught  to  keep  in  a  note  book  an  alphabetical 
list  of  the  words  which  trouble  him  and  his  study  of  spelling  should  be 
directed  to  the  mastery  of  his  own  difficulties. 

Pupils  should  be  taught  now  to  use  the  dictionary  in  the  study  of 
spelling  and  then  required  to  use  it. 

Pupils  should  acquire  and  be  encouraged  to  use  correct  pronuncia- 
tion as  an  aid  to  correct  spelling. 


45 

As  in  the  process  of  teaching  there  are  some  things  one  should  not 
do,  so  in  the  process  of  learning  there  are  some  "do  not's."  Among 
them  the  following  are  to  be  stressed: 

L.    Do  not  guess  at  a  spelling.     Use  the  dictionary  or  ask  the  teacher. 

2.  Do  not  waste  time  in  studying  words  you  already  know. 

3.  Do  not  write  a  word  over  and  over  without  thinking  about  it.     Write  it 
a  fewer  number  of  times  saying  it  quietly  to  yourself  as  you  write. 

4.  Do  not  neglect  to  correct  every  misspelling  in  every  piece  of  writing  that 
you  do. 

The  committee  urges,  that  in  the  effort  to  raise  the  standard  of 
ability,  there  be  no  increase  of  time  allowance  for  spelling.  It  seems  to 
be  established  conclusively  that  fifteen  minutes  daily  is  ample  time  if 
the  methods  followed  are  good.  More  time  than  that  has  not  been 
shown  to  be  more  productive  of  power. 

In  conclusion  the  committee  desires  to  say  that  in  its  opinion  the 
emphasis  should  not  be  laid  so  much  upon  the  fact  that  Berkeley  did  not 
do  well,  but  upon  the  fact  that  it  could  do  better.  The  only  value  that 
the  survey  can  have  is  to  stimulate  to  new  and  more  intelligent  efforts. 


Photomount 
Pamphlet 
Binder  < 
Gaylord  Bros. 

Makers 

Syracuse,  N.  Y 
W.  JM  21,  1908    ' 


48923 


577193 


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